Well, school’s out and you know what that means: one glorious week of the Big Island, internet, and restaurants! Yay!

Wes flew in to Tutuila on Wednesday to attend the island-wide Science Fair with his students. (One of his kids won second place! Two of the elementary students won third place!) I just arrived yesterday and am currently sitting in another teacher’s living room, using the internet in a house. Woohoo!

Wes and I will be flying to Western Samoa on Tuesday for a very short but very glamorous-sounding international vacation. (Right? Doesn’t that sound fancy?) Today is Sunday so everything is closed, and then we will spend Monday running around like ya do when you’re in a big city; ya know, the usual stuff– attending important meetings, shopping, and having clothes made, of course.

I’ve been obnoxiously busy lately getting the kids ready for the spelling bee and science fair, and on top of that I’ve been super sick with this bizarre chest cold that won’t quit, so I haven’t had much time to update the ol’ blog-a-rewski. A lot has happened in the past two months, though. We’ve had a school Spelling Bee, Young Writer’s competition, Science Fair, Fashion Show, two PTA fundraisers, and now we are practicing songs from musicals for an assembly at the end of the month. We’ve also had several visitors from the big island! Busy busy. It’s just like being in college only I am the one who gets to hand out the grades.

We recently had a fiafia night for the elementary school. Fiafia night is a PTA-sponsored fundraiser dance. Different students are chosen to do a traditional dance (siva samoa) and people throw money at them. As I’ve written before, Samoans are very generous: the PTA raised a couple thousand dollars in a few hours! Here are some photos from the dance:

An 8th and an 11th grader dancing at the Siva

Some of the itty-bitty kids enjoying the dance

Erin and the girls

Patricia, me, and Justine

Me and some of the 7th/8th grade girls

Some kids posing for the camera

My students & Erin’s have a combined Samoan language class every M/W/F for an hour. Last month, the class had a fashion show and siva to show off their traditional* Samoan clothing and dances.

Fashion show!

The girls lined up for the fashion show

Siva Samoa

Margaret & Save siva samoa

Two of my kids being cute

*Men wear a knee-length wrap called an i’e (pronounced “ee-ay”) and women wear a puletasi, which consists of a full-length wrap skirt and matching top. I’es and puletasis are considered fully Samoan and often referred to as “traditional” dress though they were actually introduced by English missionaries in the late 1800s.

We had visitors in February! Lauren & Kasey (both WorldTeachers) and Tyler (another palagi we met in Ofu) came to visit over a long weekend. We had such a great time with them! Lauren went spear fishing with Wes and caught two fish her first time out! We also took them to Courtney’s favorite spot, a private beach near the village of Ta’u we refer to as Second Beach (because it’s right after the first beach). It was quite a hike through the rainforest, but it was such a beautiful day and the water was perfect. We had a picnic lunch and just lounged on the beach for a few hours. This time, I wore lots and lots of sunscreen! Lauren & Kasey were in the “small” girls room with Erin, Courtney, and I during orientation, so it was a bit like a reunion for us (minus Abby)–like visiting with old friends. I had such a great time!

Some WorldTeach friends sleeping on Second Beach

The Beard in his hammock on a shipwreck beach

The Beard on the Beach

2nd beach

Riding to the airport

Kasey, the Beard, me, Lauren, and Mitch at the airport

Lauren & Kasey and the Inter-Island plane

Strike a pose, coverBeard

The plane taking Lauren & Kasey away. Wah.

On the way back from the airport

View of the church in Ta’u

It’s hard to believe it’s already March! We only have one more quarter left in the year. That means just a few more months until we’re home. It’s gone by so fast! We’re so excited about going back and seeing everyone. I can’t wait to meet Evie and my sweet nephew Gabe and see all our friends and family again. We have missed countless births and engagement parties and weddings and even the funeral of my beloved Grandfather. Sometimes it’s difficult to remember to look around and not take our time here for granted–to just focus on what we’re here for and know that we are exactly where God wants us despite how hard it is to be away. So I’ll leave you with the view that still takes my breath away every day and helps me to appreciate where we are:

Walk to school on Friday, March 9th

Walk home from school on Friday, March 9th

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About Cat Q.

For three years, I lived on a tiny little island in the South Pacific called Ta'u, where I taught elementary and high school English. Much of this blog is a chronicle of my time there, and of the travels we were able to do while we were on that side of the world. Now, I'm doing a different kind of travelling in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia with my husband and two children.

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Disclaimer

The thoughts and opinions expressed on this blog are my own and do not reflect those of the American Samoa Department of Education, Manu'a High School, the WorldTeach organization, or any other palagis living and teaching in the south pacific.